bw logo
Chapter 12. 3ds Max and Maya Exporters
Prev     Next

Chapter 12. 3ds Max and Maya Exporters

Table of Contents

12.1. 3ds Max
12.1.1. 3ds Max visual exporter
12.1.2. 3ds Max animation exporter
12.1.3. Data supported
12.1.4. The BigWorld 3dsMax Toolbar
12.1.5. Scriptable BigWorld 3dsMax exporter
12.1.6. Installing the 3ds Max exporters
12.2. Maya
12.2.1. Maya visual and animation exporter
12.2.2. Exporting
12.2.3. BigWorld shelf
12.2.4. Creating Shells
12.2.5. Installing the Maya exporters
12.2.6. Installing the Maya Shelf
12.3. Batch Exporter
12.3.1. What the batch exporter does
12.3.2. Installation
12.4. Exporting custom node hierarchy
12.5. Validation rules

BigWorld offers plug-ins that allow you to export geometry and animation data from 3ds Max and Maya to the formats used by the game engine.

12.1. 3ds Max

BigWorld offers plug-ins for exporting visuals and animations, supporting 3ds Max versions 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

12.1.1. 3ds Max visual exporter

The 3ds Max visual exporter is a plug-in that exports mesh data to the .visual format used by the BigWorld engine.

It exports meshes, physiqued meshes, skinned meshes, transform nodes, morph targets, BSP trees, hard points, and portals, and can also generate tangents and binormals for normal mapping.

In order to access the Visual Export plug-in, set the Select File To Export dialog box's Save As Type drop-down list box to Visual Exporter (*.VISUAL), as illustrated below:

Accessing the Visual Export plug-in in 3ds Max

Note

For unskinned meshes Visual Exporter can automatically select a 32-bit index buffers if there are more than 65355 vertices in the model. However, skinned meshes are limited to 65355 vertices.

The client engine can load both 16- and 32-bit index buffers automatically, but some low-end graphic cards do not support the latter. On those cards, objects with 32-bit index buffer will not render.

The components of the Visual Exporter and Advanced Settings dialog boxes are described below:

  • Visual type

    Type of visual being exported, and hence what kind of information to save.

    • Animated, skinned

      Specifies that the plug-in should export everything as is, i.e., every piece should be exported as a separate object, and all transform nodes and morph targets should be exported.

      This option should only be used for visuals that have moving parts rigged with physique, skinned, or separate moving parts.

      This option does not generate BSP trees from the meshes. If you want to have a (static) BSP tree for an animated object, then you will have to create a custom one.

    • Static

      Specifies that the plug-in should combine all meshes into one, discarding all transform nodes and modifiers, and generating a BSP tree for the combined mesh (unless there is a custom one in the current scene).

      This option should be used for shells and other static objects placed in the scene.

    • Static with nodes

      Specifies that the plug-in should combine all meshes into one, exporting all transform nodes.

      This option is similar to Static, except that it will export all transform nodes for the scene.

    • Mesh particles

      Specifies that the plug-in should allow these meshes to be sorted when rendered, so that alpha blending works correctly. Each individual object in the scene is exported as one particle, in the format used by the mesh particle renderer.

      There is a limit of 17 particle meshes exported for each mesh particle object.

      Visuals exported using this option can be used as a particle system in Particle Editor. For details, see Renderer Properties sub-panel.

  • Allow scale

    Indicates that the transform nodes should be exported with scale.

    This is generally not necessary, and should only be used if you want to export animations that include scale.

  • Normal mapped

    Specifies that the plug-in should create additional data to be used for normal-mapping the model.

    This option must be checked to use a normal-mapped material on the model.

  • Keep existing materials

    Specifies that the plug-in should keep changes made to the material in Model Editor.

    This option must be checked if you are overwriting a previously exported model, and want to keep material changes made in Model Editor.

  • Snap vertices

    Specifies that the plug-in should snap the vertices of all geometry to the nearest tenth of a millimetre.

    This option has been added primarily to support the new use of portals — because the grid and axis alignment restrictions have been removed for portals, snapping portals to the nearest tenth of a millimetre can pull portals off bounding box or hull boundaries.

    This option does not affect geometry exported when the Visual Type drop-down list box is set to Animated.

  • Advanced Settings dialog

    • Bone count

      Specifies the number of bones used by the Visual Splitter to divide up any mesh.

      It is set to a default of 17 because all BigWorld skinned shaders are designed to use a maximum of 17 bones. When a visual file uses more than 17 bones, the Visual Splitter divides the object into 17, or less, bone segments.

      Only change this field if you have created shaders that support a different number of bones.

      The field's maximum value is 87, which is the upper limit of BigWorld vertex format.

    • Disable visual checker

      Specifies that the plug-in should not check the exported model against the visual rules. A

    • Fix cylindrical mapping

      Specifies that the plug-in should try to use an alternative method for generating texture space vectors used for normal mapping.

      This option must be checked if there are artifacts along seams when using normal-mapped shaders.

    • Opposite facing direction

      Specifies that the model has been modelled facing in the incorrect direction and that it should be rotated by 180 degrees so that is appears correctly inside the engine.

A — The rules are defined in bigworld/tools/exporter/resources/visual_rules.xml. For details, see Validation rules.

12.1.1.1. Configuration file

The plug-in automatically generates the file visualexporter.cfg, under 3ds Max's folder Local Settings/Application Data/Autodesk/3dsmax/MaxVersion/enu/plugcfg.

The list below describes the configuration options written to this file:

  • allowScale

    Last value set for the Allow Scale check box in the exporter dialog box.

  • bumpMapped

    Last value set for the Bumpmapped check box in the exporter dialog box.

  • exportMode

    Last export mode used in the exporter dialog box.

  • unitScale

    Conversion factor for units between 3ds Max and BigWorld.

    The default value is 0.1, which means that 1 unit in 3ds Max equals 0.1 units in BigWorld.

    It is important to note that you need to change this value in both animationexporter.cfg and visualexporter.cfg.

    This configuration option can be set only in the configuration files.

12.1.2. 3ds Max animation exporter

The 3ds Max Animation Exporter is a plug-in that exports animations to the .animation format used by the BigWorld engine.

It supports exporting of node and morph animations (using the morpher modifier).

To access the Animation Export plug-in, in the Select File To Export dialog box set the Save As Type drop-down list box to Animation Exporter (*.ANIMATION), as illustrated below:

Accessing the Animation Export plug-in in 3ds Max

The list below describes the components of the Visual Exporter dialog box:

  • Allow scale

    Indicates that the animation should be exported with scale keys in it.

    If you wish to use scaling animations, you have to export the visual you want to animate with this option enabled as well. For more details, see 3ds Max visual exporter.

    This option only applies to node animation.

  • Export morph animation

    Indicates that morph animations should be exported.

  • Export node animation

    Indicates that node animations should be exported.

  • Use reference hierarchy

    Indicates that the animation should be exported with a node hierarchy different from the one in the current 3ds Max file.

    Once this option is selected, the Select Reference Hierarchy File dialog box is displayed, where you can select the visual file with the desired node hierarchy.

    For details, see Exporting custom node hierarchy.

  • Export cue track

    Not supported for this version.

  • Opposite facing direction

    Specifies that the model has been modelled facing in the incorrect direction and that it should be rotated by 180 degrees so that is appears correctly inside the engine.

12.1.2.1. Configuration file

The plug-in automatically generates the file animationexporter.cfg, under 3ds Max's folder plugcfg.

The list below describes the configuration options written to this file:

  • allowScale

    Last value set for the Allow Scale check box in the exporter dialog box.

  • exportMorphAnimation

    Last value set for the Export Morph Animation check box in the exporter dialog box.

  • exportNodeAnimation

    Last value set for the Export Node Animation check box in the exporter dialog box.

  • referenceNodesFile

    Last reference nodes file used for exporting animation.

  • unitScale

    Conversion factor for units between 3ds Max and BigWorld.

    The default value is 0.1, which means that 1 unit in 3ds Max equals 0.1 units in BigWorld.

    It is important to note that you need to change this value in both animationexporter.cfg and visualexporter.cfg.

    This configuration option can be set only in the configuration files.

12.1.3. Data supported

The list below gives an overview of the data supported by the plug-in:

  • BSP tree

    If the selected option in Visual Exporter dialog box's Visual Type group box is either Static or Static With Nodes, then BSP trees are generated from the exported object.

    It is also possible to define a custom BSP tree, by postfixing an object name with '_bsp'. If a custom BSP tree exists, then a new one will not be generated from the exported object.

  • Hard point

    All nodes having the name prefixed by 'HP_' will be exported as a hard point (hard points are attachment points for joining two models).

    Except for the transform node, no object will be exported for a hard point.

  • Material

    If a standard 3ds Max material is applied to an object, then the identifier, the diffuse map, and the self-illumination factors of the material will be exported.

    If a DirectX 9 shader material is applied to a model, then the properties and the shader name referenced by the material will be exported.

    When exporting an existing visual, the plug-in tries to keep its material settings.

  • Mesh

    Meshes in the current set will be exported according to the selected option in the Visual Exporter dialog box's Visual Type group box.

    If Visual Type is set to Animated, then the plug-in will also export any morpher, skin, and physique modifiers applied to the object.

  • Node

    If the selected option in Visual Exporter dialog box's Visual Type group box is either Animated or Static With Nodes, then all transform nodes in the current set will be exported.

  • Portal

    Portals are generally a single Quad with the surface normal pointing toward the main body of the shell that it is part of.

    The type of portal to export is defined by editing the user properties of the object in 3ds Max. To define it, follow the steps below:

    1. Right-click the object.

    2. In the context menu, click Properties.

    3. In the Object Properties dialog box, click the User Defined tab.

    4. In the multi-line field User-Defined Properties, enter the value according to the type of portal, as described in the list below:

      • Portal type: Standard

        Used to link two shells together in World Editor.

        • User-defined properties:

          portal=true

      • Portal type: Exit

        Used to link the outside world to a shell.

        • User-defined properties:

          portal=true
exit=true

      • Portal type: Heaven

        Lets you see the outside world from an inside chunk.

        • User-defined properties:

          portal=true
exit=true
heaven=true

12.1.4. The BigWorld 3dsMax Toolbar

The BigWorld 3dsMax Toolbar contains useful a number of useful tools which help in asset production.

These tools are briefly described in the list below, a more extensive description can be found in the content creation manual.

  • — Triggers a File - Export .visual on selected objects. If nothing is selected an Export All is performed.

  • — Triggers a File - Export .animaition on selected objects. If nothing is selected an Export All is performed.

  • — Adds the Portal attribute to the selected object.

  • — Adds the Exit attribute to the selected object.

  • — Adds the Heaven attribute to the selected object.

  • — Adds the Custom Hull attribute to the selected object.

  • — Adds the BSP attribute to the selected object.

  • — Attaches a hardpoint object to the selected object. If nothing is selected the hard point is placed at the world origin.

  • — Points the normals of an objects selected vertices away from a second helper object.

  • — Adds hitbox objects to the selected skeleton components.

  • — Creates a skeleton_collider.xml file from hitboxes in the scene.

  • — Divides objects that are too big to export into smaller exportable pieces.

  • — Exports multiple models and shells as a single prefab.

12.1.4.1. Installing the 3dsMax Toolbar

Installing the 3dsMax Toolbar will also install the BigWorld exporters.

  1. To install the 3dsMax Toolbar do the following:

    1. Start 3dsMax.

    2. Open Windows Explorer.

    3. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/maxscripts/.

    4. Drag the maxscript installer bigworld_maxscript_vx onto 3dsMax's viewport.

    5. Click install (see image, point 1.)

    6. Click Select "bigworld" folder (see image, point 2) (see image 1.)

    7. Select the bigworld folder

    8. Select OK and follow the prompts

    9. — Exports multiple models and shells as a single prefab.

12.1.5. Scriptable BigWorld 3dsMax exporter

The BigWorld exporter can be called and its settings defined from MaxScript

  • exportFile <filename_string> [ #noPrompt ] [ selectedOnly:<boolean> ] — Exports scene to filename_string. The #noPrompt flag prevents any configuration or control dialogs from being displayed. when selectedOnly is set to true, only selected nodes are exported

  • BWVisualSetting "mode" "animated"|"static"|"static_with_nodes"|"mesh_particles" — Sets the mode of export to either animated, static, static with nodes or mesh particles.

  • BWVisualSetting ["allow_scale" true|false "bump_mapped" true|false "keep_materials" true|false "snap_vertices" true|false "opposite_facing" true|false "visual_checker" true|false "fix_cylindrical" true|false "bone_count" true|false "morph" true|false "cue_track" true|false "opposite_facing" true|false "reference_hierarchy" true|false] — Sets the various export settings. For an explanation of each setting see 3ds Max visual exporter

12.1.6. Installing the 3ds Max exporters

The proprietary 3ds Max exporters are provided for 3ds Max versions 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and can be found in the folder bigworld\tools\exporter

To install the 3ds Max exporter, follow the steps below:

  1. Open 3ds Max.

  2. Open the Configure System Paths dialog box:

    On 3ds Max 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, select the Customize → Configure System Paths menu item.

    Invoking the Configure User Paths dialog box

  3. On the Configure System Paths dialog box:

    • Click the 3rd Party Plug-Ins tab.

    • Click the Add button — the Choose Directory For New Entry dialog box will open.

      Invoking the Choose Directory For New Entry dialog box

  4. On the Choose Directory For New Entry dialog box:

    1. On the Folder drop-down list, select the folder containing the BigWorld exporter plug-in for your 3ds Max version, e.g. bigworld\tools\exporter\3dsmax2011.

    2. On the file list, select visualexporter.dle.

    3. On the Label field, type 'BigWorld exporters'.

    4. Click the Use Path button — the Configure System Paths dialog box will be reactivated, listing BigWorld's exporter plug-in.

      Setting the Choose Directory For New Entry dialog box

12.2. Maya

The BigWorld plug-in allows you to export Maya visual and animations created with versions 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Its features and installation steps are described in the sub-sections below.

12.2.1. Maya visual and animation exporter

The Maya Visual and Animation Exporter is a plug-in that exports mesh and animation data respectively to the .visual and .animation formats used by the BigWorld engine.

The visual exporter portion exports meshes, skinned meshes, transform nodes, BSP trees, hard points, portals and morph targets, and can also generate tangents and binormals for normal mapping. The animation exporter portion exports node animations and morph animations.

This version supports:

  • Static Models

  • Static Models with Nodes

  • Normal Models

  • Animations

  • Mesh Particles

  • Custom BSPs

  • Custom Hulls

  • Bump Mapping

  • Morph Targets and Animation

  • Custom node hierarchies.

12.2.2. Exporting

In order to access the Visual and Animation Exporter plug-in, set the Export dialog box's Files Of Type drop-down list box to BigWorld Asset (*.*), as illustrated below:

Invoking the Visual and Animation Exporter plug-in

The list below describes the components of the Export All Options dialog box:

  • Export

    Sets the type of file being exported.

    • Visual

      Specifies that the objects should be saved into a .visual file.

    • Animation

      Specifies that the objects should be saved into a .animation file.

  • Visual type

    Sets the type of visual being exported, and hence what information to save.

    • Animated, skinned

      Specifies that the plug-in should export everything as is, i.e., every piece should be exported as a separate object, and all transform nodes and morph targets should be exported.

      This option should only be used for visuals that have moving parts, either skinned or separate moving parts.

      This option does not generate BSP trees from the meshes. If you want a (static) BSP tree for an animated object, then you will have to create a custom one.

    • Static

      Specifies that the plug-in should combine all meshes into one, discarding all transform nodes and modifiers, and generating a BSP tree for the combined mesh (unless there is a custom one in the current scene).

      This option should be used for shells and other static objects placed in the scene.

    • Static with nodes

      Specifies that the plug-in should combine all meshes into one, exporting all transform nodes.

      This option is similar to the option Static, except in that it will export all transform nodes for the scene

    • Mesh particles

      Specifies that the plug-in should allow these meshes to be sorted when rendered, so that alpha blending works correctly. Each individual object in the scene is exported as one particle, in the format used by the mesh particle renderer.

      There is a limit of 17 particle meshes exported for each mesh particle object.

      Visuals exported using this option can be used as a particle system in Particle Editor. For details, see Renderer Properties sub-panel.

  • Allow scale

    Indicates that the object should be exported with scale keys in it.

    If you wish to use scaling animations, then you have to export both the visual and the animation with this option enabled.

  • Normal mapped

    Specifies that the plug-in should create additional data to be used for normal-mapping the model.

    This option must be checked to use a normal-mapped material on the model.

  • Keep existing materials

    Specifies that the plug-in should keep changes to material made in Model Editor.

    This option must be checked if you are overwriting a previously exported model, and want to keep material changes made in Model Editor.

  • Use reference node

    Indicates that the animation should be exported with a node hierarchy different from the one in the current Maya file.

    Once this option is checked, the Select Reference Hierarchy File dialog box is displayed, where you can select the visual file with the desired node hierarchy. For more details, see Exporting custom node hierarchy.

  • Snap vertices

    Specifies that the plug-in should snap the vertices of all geometry to the nearest tenth of a millimetre.

    This option has been added primarily to support the new use of portals — because the grid and axis alignment restrictions have been removed for portals, snapping portals to the nearest tenth of a millimetre can pull portals off bounding box or hull boundaries.

    This option does not affect geometry exported when the Visual Type drop-down list box is set to Animated.

  • Strip reference prefix

    Specifies that the plug-in should strip the model name prefix from the names of the animation nodes when using referenced models inside Maya.

    When animating a model in Maya that uses a reference to a rigged model, the name of the model will be prefixed to the name of each animated node. As a result the node names of the original model will not match those of the animation, so the animation will not affect the model. By selecting this option, the model name will be stripped from the names of the animation nodes so that the node names in the visual file match those in the animation file.

  • Advanced Settings dialog

    • Bone count

      Specifies the number of bones used by the Visual Splitter to divide any mesh up.

      It is set to a default of 17 because that is the maximum that all BigWorld skinned shaders are designed to use. When a visual file uses more than 17 bones, the Visual splitter divides the object into 17 or less bone segments.

      Only change this field if you have created shaders that support a different number of bones.

      The field's maximum value is 87, which is the upper limit of BigWorld vertex format.

    • Use decimetres

      Specifies that Maya units are interpreted as decimetres (1 unit = 10 decimetres) rather than metres.

    • Disable visual checker

      Specifies that the plug-in should not check the exported model against the visual rules. A

    • Fix cylindrical mapping

      Specifies that the plug-in should try to use an alternative method for generating texture space vectors used for normal mapping.

      This option must be checked if there are artifacts along seams when using normal-mapped shaders.

    • Opposite facing direction

      Specifies that the model has been modelled facing in the incorrect direction and that it should be rotated by 180 degrees so that is appears correctly inside the engine.

    • Scene root added

      Specifies that the model already has a dummy scene root added by the artist. If not selected, a scene root will be added automatically so that the correct node gets examined as the itinerant when testing for the “Is Movement” action inside the BigWorld engine. This option provides support for customers with manually added dummy scene roots, therefore not requiring assets to be altered.

A — The rules are defined in file bigworld/tools/exporter/resources/visual_rules.xml. For details, see Validation rules.

12.2.3. BigWorld shelf

The BigWorld Shelf contains useful a number of useful tools which help in asset production.

These shelf buttons are briefly described in the list below, a more extensive description can be found in the content creation manual.

  • — Triggers a File - Export BigWorldAsset on selected objects. If nothing is selected an Export All is performed.

  • — Adds the Portal attribute to the object's face currently selected.

  • — Adds the Exit attribute to the object's face currently selected.

  • — Adds the Heaven attribute to the object's face currently selected.

  • — Adds the Custom Hull attribute to the selected object.

  • — Adds the BSP attribute to the selected object.

  • — Attaches a hardpoint object to the selected object. If nothing is selected the hard point is placed at the world origin.

  • — Points the normals of an objects selected vertices away from a second helper object.

  • — Adds hitbox objects to the selected skeleton components.

  • — Creates a skeleton_collider.xml file from hitboxes in the scene.

  • — Divides objects that are too big to export into smaller exportable pieces.

  • — Exports multiple models and shells as a single prefab.

12.2.4. Creating Shells

The requirements for creating in 3ds Max the game assets to be used in BigWorld Technology are covered in the document Content Creation Manual (accessible via World Editor's, Model Editor's, and Particle Editor's Help → Content Creation menu item, or directly by opening the bigworld/doc/content_creation.chm file).

12.2.5. Installing the Maya exporters

In order to use the plug-in, you need to update your environment variables and Maya's plug-in settings. To do that, follow the steps below:

Note

The steps below are the same for all supported versions of Maya, only folder names for the latest version of Maya are shown

  1. Add the BigWorld exporter folder as an additional plugin path to Maya:

    1. Open Maya.env, e.g. My Documents/maya/2011/Maya.env.

    2. Add the BigWorld exporter path to the MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH variable, e.g. MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH = C:/mf/bigworld/tools/exporter/maya2011.

    Note

    Each installed version of Maya can point to its appropriate version of the BigWorld exporters.

  2. Copy the BigWorld's export script and userSetup script to the Maya folder:

    1. Open Windows Explorer.

    2. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/exporter/maya2011.

    3. Select the visualfileexporterscript.mel and userSetup.mel files.

    4. Copy the files to the My Documents/maya/2011/scripts folder.

  3. Update Maya's plug-in settings:

    1. Open Maya.

    2. Select the Window → Setting/Preferences → Plug-in Manager menu item — the Plug-in Manager dialog box will be displayed.

      Plug-in Manager dialog box

    3. Select the Loaded (to load the plug-in for the current session) and Auto Load (to load it automatically on startup of future sessions) check boxes.

    4. Click the button — the Plug-in Information dialog box will be displayed.

      The bigworld/tools/exporter/maya2011/visual.mll file should be listed.

      Plug-in Information dialog box

    5. Click the Close button to return to the Plug-in Manager dialog box.

    6. Click the Close button to return to Maya.

After carrying out these steps, you are ready to export your objects and animations to the .visual and .animation formats used by BigWorld.

12.2.6. Installing the Maya Shelf

Some of the BigWorld Shelf components require that the BigWorld exporters and userSetup script have been installed. For details see Installing the Maya exporters).

  1. Copy BigWorld's shelf to the Maya shelves folder:

    1. Open Windows Explorer.

    2. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/melscripts/src/shelf.

    3. Select the shelf_bigworld.mel file.

    4. Copy the file to the My Documents/maya/2011/prefs/shelves folder.

  2. Copy BigWorld's shelf icons the Maya icons folder:

    1. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/melscripts/src/icons.

    2. Select the all the icon bitmaps

    3. Copy the files to the My Documents/maya/2011/prefs/icons folder.

  3. Copy BigWorld's Maya Python scripts to the Maya shelves folder:

    1. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/melscripts/src/scripts.

    2. Select the contents of the folder bw_add_bsp.py, bw_add_customhull.py, bw_add_hardpoint.py, bw_add_hitbox.py, bw_common.py, bw_create_exit_portal.py, bw_create_standard_portal.py, bw_create_heaven_portal.py, bw_export_prefab.py, bw_object_divider.py, bw_munge_normals.py, bw_export_asset.py, and bw_create_skeleton_collider.bmp.

    3. Copy the files to the My Documents/maya/scripts folder.

  4. Copy the resources needed for the python scripts to Maya's project folder:

    1. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/melscripts/resources/assets.

    2. Select the contents of the folder hardpoint_helper.bmp, maya_hard_point.mtl, and maya_hard_point.obj.

    3. Copy the files to the My Documents/maya/projects/default/assets folder.

    4. Navigate to the folder bigworld/tools/melscripts/resources/textures.

    5. Select the contents of the folder AID_BSP.bmp, AID_exitportal.bmp, AID_hportal.bmp, AID_portal.bmp, and AID_Hull.bmp.

    6. Copy the files to the My Documents/maya/projects/default/textures folder.

  5. Open Maya — you should see the BigWorld's tab in the shelf area (if that option is selected in Maya), and the icons displayed below (for details, see BigWorld shelf).

    BigWorld shelf

12.3. Batch Exporter

The batch export script can automatically export multiple 3dsMax and Maya assets from a given source directory and all its subdirectories to a destination directory.

12.3.1. What the batch exporter does

  1. Searches through all sub folders of the Source directory and creates a list of all ".max" (3d Studio Max), ".mb" (Maya Binary) and ".ma" (MayaASCII) files.

  2. Duplicates the hierarchy of the Source directory at the destination directory if the folders don't already exist.

  3. Launches 3dsMax from the command line and passes it the list of .max files to be exported using a function in 3dsMax's startup script.

  4. Assets with "animation" in their file path will be exported as .animation files otherwise a .visual export is performed.

  5. Launches Maya from the command line and passes it the list of .mb files to be exported using a procedure in Maya's userSetup.mel startup script.

  6. Writes all exported files to a log file created in the Source folder.

BigWorld batch exporter

12.3.2. Installation

Before using the batch exporter check the following

  1. Ensure all source (.max, .mb) files and all destination (.visual, .primitive, .model, .animation) files are backed up with source control before using the batch exporter.

  2. 3d Studio Max and Maya are installed.

  3. Both 3dsMax and Maya executable paths are entered in the System Environment Variables.

  4. The BigWorld Maxscripts installed using bigworld_maxscripts_v1.5.mzp or later. The maxscript installer can be found in "bigworld\tools\maxscripts\" and instructions on how to install them, found in the content_creation.chm

  5. The userSetup.mel script containing the bigworld_batch_exporter procedure should be been placed into "Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\maya\versionNumber\scripts". If you have an existing userSetup.mel script you can simply append the contents of the above file to the existing file.

  6. BigWorld exporters installed and paths.xml set up correctly.

12.4. Exporting custom node hierarchy

Sometimes it is useful to create an animation where the node hierarchy in the scene is different from the one that the model was exported with. This usually occurs when there are two elements in the scene, and you want to link them, then move them together.

The example below illustrates such a scenario:

  • When a character steps onto a little boat, you want both the character and the whole boat to dip down where the character's foot steps on.

  • To accomplish this, the character is linked to a rotating box used as a handle to rotate the whole boat, since this is easy to animate in 3ds Max.

  • But if this animation were exported with the node hierarchy in the current 3ds Max file, then the rotation would be lost, since that node is not normally in the hierarchy of the visual.

By exporting the model using the node hierarchy specified in a visual file, the resulting animation will look the same in the game engine as it does in 3ds Max or Maya.

3ds Max

Maya

12.5. Validation rules

Before exporting the visual, the Visual Exporter plug-in validates it according to a set of rules defined in the bigworld/tools/exporter/resources/visual_rules.xml file.

The format of the visual_rules.xml file is as follows: 

<visual_rules.xml>

  *<rule>
     <identifier>              id                                </identifier>
    ?<parent>                  parent_id                         </parent>
    ?<exportAs>               [normal|static|static with nodes]  </exportAs>
    ?<path>                    folder                            </path>
    ?<filespec>                file_matching_criteria            </filespec>
    ?<minSize>                 .f .f .f                          </minSize>
    ?<maxSize>                 .f .f .f                          </maxSize>
    ?<maxNodesPerRenderSet>    integer                           </maxNodesPerRenderSet>
    ?<maxTriangles>            integer                           </maxTriangles>
    ?<minTriangles>            integer                           </minTriangles>
    ?<portals>                 true|false                        </portals>
    ?<portalSnap>              .f .f .f                          </portalSnap>
    ?<portalDistance>          .f                                </portalDistance>
    ?<portalOffset>            .f                                </portalOffset>
    *<hardPoint>               hard_point_name                   </hardPoint>
    ?<checkUnknownHardPoints> [true|false]                       </checkUnknownHardPoints>
   </rule>

</visual_rules.xml >

bigworld/tools/exporter/resources/visual_rules.xml file format

The plug-in determines which rule to use based on the visual's target path and file name — it will search through all matching rules (ordering the rules based on the length of the value for the path tag — from the longest to the shortest), and use the first matching one (with either no filespec tag, or with one that matches the filename using standard wildcard matching).

The list below describes the tags in the visual_rules.xml file:

  • checkUnknownHardPoints

    Specified if hard points not specified in the set of hardPoint tags should be flagged as error.

  • exportAs

    Specifies how to save the visual.

    Can have the following values: normal, static, or static with nodes.

  • fileSpec

    Matching criteria (using wildcards) specifying the visuals for which this rule applies to.

    This option is not inherited via the parent tag.

  • hardPoint

    Name of the hard point that the visual must have.

    The set of hard points to check against is the one formed by all hard points mentioned in all parents.

    This tag may be defined multiple times for the same rule.

  • identifier

    Name of the rule.

  • maxNodesPerRenderSetA

    Maximum nodes allowed per renderset, i.e., how many bones each geometric element is allowed to use for skinning.

  • maxSizeA

    Maximum size of the visual in metres.

  • maxTrianglesA

    Maximum number of triangles in the visual.

  • minSizeA

    Minimum size of the visual in metres.

  • minTrianglesA

    Minimum number of triangles in the visual.

  • parent

    Name of the rule from which to inherit options.

    For each option, the plug-in will search up the hierarchy until it finds a match for it.

    The path and fileSpec options are not inherited.

  • path

    Resource folder which visuals this rule applies to.

    This option is not inherited via parent tag.

  • portalDistanceA

    Number of which the distance between the origin and the portal must be a multiple of.

  • portalOffsetA

    Number of which the centre of the portal must be a multiple of on the portal plane.

  • portals

    Determines if the visual may have portals.

  • portalSnapA

    Number of which the bounding box of the portal must be a multiple of.

    A value must be specified for each dimension.

A — A value of zero indicates that the option should not be checked.

Prev     Next
Chapter 11. NavGen  Home  Chapter 13. Lock Server (BWLockD)
Copyright 1999-2012 BigWorld Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved. Proprietary commercial in confidence.